Hagiwara Sakura and Miyazawa Erena are popular singers of the idol group Sweet Diva. As a publicity stunt, they agree to undergo some quick televised basic training as female wrestlers. Elena, however, gets into an argument with pro-wrestler Kazama Rio during the recording which causes Sakura to challenge Rio to a match.After being defeated easily there and obviously not having a chance against a real pro, Sakura makes a surprising announcement: She will leave her idol group and become a pro-wrestler at Rio's wrestling team Berserk in order to beat Rio in a serious match one day. Thus her rival Elena is left behind, now responsible for leading Sweet Diva to new success.

Hagiwara Sakura and Miyazawa Erena are popular singers of the idol group Sweet Diva. As a publicity stunt, they agree to undergo some quick televised basic training as female wrestlers. Elena, however, gets into an argument with pro-wrestler Kazama Rio during the recording which causes Sakura to challenge Rio to a match.After being defeated easily there and obviously not having a chance against a real pro, Sakura makes a surprising announcement: She will leave her idol group and become a pro-wrestler at Rio's wrestling team Berserk in order to beat Rio in a serious match one day. Thus her rival Elena is left behind, now responsible for leading Sweet Diva to new success.

Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai!
Being a pro wrestling fan personally, I feel somewhat insulted that one of my interests got used by Studio Arms in a desperate attempt to milk T&A shots off its female cast. There are a good number of camera shots in the series, even during wrestling matches, that are prominently focused on boob, crotch and butt shots; which is why a good chunk of the action in many matches for this title involve submission holds. The first half of the series is rather lazy and painful to watch as Sakura gets on a ridiculously long losing streak when transitioning into her career as a pro wrestler and losing to the same freakin' submission hold (a Boston Crab) for episodes at a time. The second half is slightly better as Sakura is now a seasoned and competent pro, but the action in the ring now borders on ridiculous as Sakura and the wrestlers take wrestling moves to their head, neck and back in some painful-looking camera angles that would have normally crippled or killed a wrestler many times over yet these gals are still able to get themselves up. Either these girls are superhuman or this is just another case of Arms being lazy with believably portraying pro wrestling. Besides the absurdity of the in-ring action, the title's second half tosses in a subpar plot twist regarding a new foe that desires to challenge Sakura and making a half-assed attempt to have viewers sympathize with Sakura through this ordeal (as well as her ridiculously long losing streak from earlier in the series). Overall, Wanna be the Strongest in the World is yet another offering from Arms that mostly cares more for showing off T&A than putting any meaningful focus on whatever gimmick it uses as a cheap excuse for said T&A. Avoid if you aren't an ecchi fan!

Last updated Saturday, August 16 2014. Created Saturday, August 16 2014.

Yes, this is complete trash, and shows crotch angles of the female wrestlers in action abound. It's obvious which target group this is aiming at.

That aside, this show tells a story of Sakura, the idol star, challenging a pro wrestler, only to be defeated in a completely one-sided match (indicating these matches aren't scripted... ;-), and then deciding to quit her idol career and become a pro wrestler (in the same stable as Rio) to get her rematch one day. (Which actually is just the end of the first arc at episode 6.)

But where other series - mostly with male protagonists - would soon become one-dimensional, the lead becoming ever stronger and finally becoming the best of the world without much opposition, Sekai de Ichiban has Sakura take another hard landing, and go through a tough time, facing a lot of beatings and pain, and being on the verge of giving up her intention to stay there. As of episode 4, her match record is abysmal to say the least.Then again, she has gained some other things that may turn out valuable later, and the way how she got there was interesting for me. This is the reason why I decided to watch this show to the end, regardless of the impending "Watch-" rating.

What's also nice about this series is that all significant characters add positive elements to the show, there's no real baddie there (albeit episode 7 and the OP sequence are hinting at a potential enemy later). So we can focus on the character development without detracting elements such as enmity or revenge.

The highlight of this show is certainly the appearance of Jackall Toujou. From there, a second arc begins, with the Blue Panther shifting into the focus out of nowhere. The scenario certainly asked for this development while the background lacks a lot of credibility here. But the emotional finale makes up for this, and this trashy show ended up providing a fun ride with likeable characters that I won't regret, as my final score indicates.

Last updated Tuesday, December 24 2013. Created Wednesday, October 30 2013.

Ugh! I thought briefly that this show might actually have an interesting twist to it, but in fact it is all an excuse to let animators draw the crotch regions of sexy girls. This is ecchi fanservice like crazy, and must have been stretching the limits of what is acceptable on Japanese TV. It's amazing how pornographic an anime can get without so much as a single nipple being exposed to view. Adding insult to injury was an attempt to use a piece of piano music to make us sympathize with Erena when she is humiliated--extremely humiliated--in front of thousands of viewers ("Oh God, don't take pictures of me like this"). Yes, she has been wronged, but continuing to watch this show, thus rewarding the people who made it, would be an even greater wrong. I can't believe that there will be anything but more of the same to come is succeeding episodes. This girl has a little too much loyalty to her Idol group.

Last updated Tuesday, October 15 2013. Created Tuesday, October 15 2013.